India beckons you to a new adventure, an adventure through varied landscapes, cultures and histories. Be a part of the scintillating diversity that is India and feel the joy of unraveling mysteries and discovering the simple pleasures of life.

The most pleasant mode of traveling through India is by train. The Indian Railways - the second largest railway system in the world, has over 62,300 km of track laid between 7000 stations and running 7000 Passenger Trains.

Today, it offers diverse tourist routes, magnificent hotels on wheels with five-star services and Indrail Passes, ideal for extensive trouble-free across the country. Do you hear the whistle? Do you hear the chug-chug on the railway tracks? Do you feel the rhythm of the moving train? Then hurry don't miss your train!

Railways planning to end ticket quotas

NEW DELHI, JUN 7: The indispensable last minute “quota system” which gets wait-listed tickets reserved, is set for a review. The railway ministry is planning to evaluate the present system of quotas and cut down on them wherever possible.

It plans to study the number of quotas with each station. It will then decide how it can juggle the quotas available with every station.

Rlys plan passenger facilities around stations

As part of its ambitious Rs 2,30,000 crore (Rs 2,300 billlion) outlay for the 11th Plan, Indian Railways plans to use space above platforms in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities to build passenger amenities by involving private players.

"Areas around stations and space above platforms could be commercially developed through Public-Private-Partnership.

The main objective should be to increase platform space by shifting major platform-level operational and passenger services to the first floor concourse level," the Working Group on Railways for the 11th Plan said in its report.

The Group, headed by Railway Board Chairman J P Batra, suggested that a special purpose vehicle be created, in which Railway Land Development Authority would put assets as equity while private partners could invest money as equity.

The face-lift of major railway stations could cover the entire length and breadth of platform areas to create world-class passenger amenities and services, it said.

The group said region or city-specific SPVs with private partnership should be established initially for identifying, project development and marketing of railway lines through competitive bidding to maximise revenue sharing.

Railways has planned an outlay of Rs 2,30,000 crore or Rs 2,300 billion (under the base case scenario) during 2007-12. This will include a budgetary support of Rs 95,000 crore (Rs 950 billion), internal resources of Rs 75,000 crore (Rs 750 billion) and extra-budgetary resource of Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion).